The study hypothesized that signing one’s name in his mother tongue reflects one’s identification with his social group. Thus, the relationship between the vitality of language and identity as reflected in what language Palestinian-Arab students of higher education in Israel sign their own handwritten signature was examined. Do they sign in Arabic, their mother tongue and native first language (L1) but still the language of minority in Israel? In Hebrew, their second language (L2) but the language of the dominant majority and the language of most official documents if not all? In English, their third language (L3)? Or in a symbolic logographic manner?
In the current study, 843 multilingual Palestinian-Arab students in Israel signed their own handwritten signature. Their signatures were classified into Arabic, Hebrew, English and Symbolic-Logographic (difficult to be classified into a specific language). Unpredictably, about 81% of the signatures were not in Arabic their native first language. The interplay of identity, multilingualism and majority/minority language was discussed.